On this blog, I'll post a forecast/report of the surf/windsurf conditions in Maui...whenever I feel like.
Email me if you need to rent a car or a place in Maui or if you need a surf or windsurf lesson.

Wednesday, February 01, 2012

such a surreal way of living...

What another day!

I surfed Middles in the morning and caught some bombs. It wasn't big consistently, but it wasn't small either.

Then I watched the Pipe contest online. The final was the best surfing heat I've ever seen. Here's a press release by Jody Willmott that is as phenomenal as the final itself.

HONOLULU (Feb. 1, 2012) -- Hawaii's
John John Florence created one of professional surfing's most dramatic moments
today to claim his second consecutive Volcom Pipe Pro title, completely flipping
the table on former Pipe Pro champion Jamie O'Brien (Hawaii) in the final
seconds. O'Brien had held the lead for 34 minutes and 45 seconds of the
35-minute final... and then it evaporated before his eyes.

Above: Florence's mad dash for the barrel and the win as
the clock wound down.

Photo: Bielmann

O'Brien had bolted away at the start of
the heat with an apparently insurmountable lead and Florence wasn't even in the
picture. O'Brien's top two scoring waves were near-perfect: 9.0 and 9.43 with
all three of his challengers requiring a combination of high scores to beat him.
Maui's Kai Barger had posed the biggest challenge with a 9.33, but a second wave
eluded him. San Clemente's Nate Yeomans was a distant third with 7.57 points
total. Florence's score line wasn't much better: 9.93 total.

Then at the five minute mark, two
waves in the 8-10 foot range pushed through. Florence got the first: an
unbelievable backside tube at Pipe that was deep, critical, and near-impossible.
He blasted out with the spray and scored a perfect 10.

Right behind him, O'Brien swung,
pulled in deep and blew out in front of Florence's face for a 9.93 - further
extending his lead.

One minute to go... Florence
paddled over and congratulated O'Brien. Then a dark line on the horizon caught
his eye. One last wave stacked up on the Pipeline reef. Fifteen seconds to go...
Florence clawed his way past a frantic O'Brien who could see the writing on the
wall of the wave. Florence clawed his way past Jamie, over the ledge, under the
lip and into the heat-winning tube ride - a 9.93 - to claim the $20,000 first
prize.

Less than eight weeks ago,
Florence lost in similar fashion here to 11X world champion Kelly Slater during
the Pipe Masters. Today's victory seemed to realign the trajectory of the
19-year-old, who appears at this moment in time to be destined for one of pro
surfing's greatest careers of all-time.

"I wrote myself off half way
through," said Florence. "Kai and Jamie both had nines. I can't believe it. Here
at Pipe anything can happen.

"With 40 seconds to go I wasn't even
thinking about it. I was like, yeah Jamie, congratulations, I won last year and
I'm stoked for you. Then I turned around and there'ss a peak. I didn't even know
if he was going. I was going to go left and backdoor the peak, then I ended up
having to fade, go right, and barely got under it. It was a wild ride.

"Last year this gave me so much
confidence going into the year. This is the first contest of the year and I've
got confidence again. So much has gone down in the last year, qualifying for the
tour, changing my whole way of surfing and trying to get into the contest thing.
I'm so happy right now."

Back on the beach, O'Brien and
Florence shook hands and O'Brien shook his head.

"Man, I feel like you just threw
me out of the car before we got home," said O'Brien. "I'm going to come and
steal that trophy from you in the middle of the night," he laughed.

Nine years John John's senior,
O'Brien has long been the man to beat at Pipe, having won at Pipe Masters,
Backdoor Shootout, and multiple Volcom Pipe Pros. But Florence is quickly
leveling the scores.

"It hurts," said Jamie, holding
onto the runner-up $10,000 check. "You think you're going to win and you don't.
It's OK. I got some really good scores and I felt I put on a great performance.
To me that means everything. I had a great time. I finally got in a good rhythm
my last couple of heats. I enjoyed myself and it was a good day."

O'Brien appeared to toy with
Pipeline today, switching up Backdoor and Pipe with regular foot and goofy foot
barrels. But while he might have made it look easier than it was for everyone
else, he was quick to admit things aren't always as they may appear - hence the
credo that Pipeline is for warriors.

"It might look easy, but some of
the stuff that happens to you underwater while you're getting pounded is really
intense and scary. Getting caught inside out there, drags you and drags you,
you've got to climb up your leash - it's a lot of work out there."

Third place in the final was
Barger. Fourth was Yeomans.

Worthy mentions include top Australian
finisher Mitch Coleborn, and former Pipe champion Bruce Irons, who showed a
fantastic return to form this week and lost out in the semi's.

From today's results, the
following surfers have won a spot in the first round of next December's Pipe
Masters: O'Brien, Barger, Billy Kemper (Maui), Flynn Novak (Oahu), Fred
Patacchia (Oahu), Kalani Chapman, and Bruce Irons. Florence is an automatic
starter at the Pipe Masters as he is on the elite ASP World Tour.

Also awarded today was the Todd
Chesser Hard Charger Sportsmanship Award - presented to Costa Rica's Carlos
Munoz who posted a perfect 10 score in the early rounds and finished the event
in equal ninth place.

Next up for Volcom is their
Volcom Fiji Pro, June 3-15 - the fourth of 11 events that comprise the ASP World
Tour.

A full two-hour highlight program
of this week's Volcom Pipe Pro will air on Fuel TV this Saturday at 7:30 PM
ET/4:30 PM PT. For more information, check your local listings or go to www.fuel.tv .

After that I went sailing at Hookipa and was having an absolute blast when, after a major wipeout, the waves took my gear on the rocks and broke sail and boom.
No cuts on my skin, that's what it counts.
So I sat to take some pics.

It was such a fun size! Glenn.

F91. Would you guys google that for me?

Elena logged her usual 4 hours.

My friend Steve showed some style.

Masa.

This is such a classic winter forecast by uncle Pat Caldwell.
I stole the summary table, but you guys should check out his extended forecast. Well, if you like meteorology, at least.

Plenty availability of studios and apts in Paia and the north shore.

About Me

Born and raised in Italy, I became an engineer and worked 11 years in the IT industry. Sick of that, in 2001 I wanted to take a year off and spend it in Maui, the best windsurfing spot in the world. Not only I'm still here (in Maui), but I also got into surfing. And the stoke is flying high. Life is too short to work 8 hours a day...